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Ste. Marie Among the Hurons: Built in 1639 to support the Jesuit mission to Huronia, Ste. Marie was the largest inland European settlement west of Quebec City. Faced with war and martyrdom, the Jesuits burned their hard-won mission to the ground in 1649 and retreated with their Wendat allies to Christian Island.

Toronto in 1810: Toronto had long been part of a native trade network when the French built a blockhouse on the Humber in 1720. 75 years later, renamed York (or muddy York), it was the English capital of a new colony, Upper Canada, facing yet another invasion.

Schneider Haus was settled by Mennonites from Pennsylvania. To get here the bretheren faced a hard trek by foot and conestoga wagon. They had to climb the Alleghanies, ford the Niagara River and slog through Beverly Swamp, only to find the land they'd bought wasn't theirs.